Question about using the Tube/Oyster Card/Apple Pay

Raymond Lin · 15 Sep 2023 at 11:14

Not taken the tube in a long time, like i think must be 10 years, so long the last time I used it a Zone 1-2 travel pass was £6.

So what is the most cost efficient way to get around? I do have an old Oyster card somewhere in the drawer, not sure if they expire or not. Or should I just use my phone? If I use Contactless on my phone do I need to unlock it to pay like i do in a shop? (I ask because the Japanese Suica card you don't, you just tap the phone even when locked).

Thanks

Feek · 15 Sep 2023 at 11:33

I think it's just as cheap (if not cheaper) to use contactless/Apple Pay than it is with an Oyster card now.

And yes, you can set a card as your Express Travel Card in settings/wallet on both your phone and watch so you don't need to trigger it.

Raymond Lin · 15 Sep 2023 at 12:38

Feek said:
I think it's just as cheap (if not cheaper) to use contactless/Apple Pay than it is with an Oyster card now.

And yes, you can set a card as your Express Travel Card in settings/wallet on both your phone and watch so you don't need to trigger it.

Oh nice, I've just set it on the watch too, saves me getting the phone out of my pocket.

Orcvader · 15 Sep 2023 at 12:54

Same price as oyster, will also have the same daily/weekly cap limits as well. You can also use the bus and it'll fall under the same cap limits. Bonus if you hop to another bus route within an hour, it won't charge you extra.

China Man · 15 Sep 2023 at 12:55

just make sure you use the same card on all your trips, there is a cap on spend after a number of trips and of course if you mistakenly use another card you will be charged on each card until each card hit the cap.....don't ask how I know that

Maundie · 15 Sep 2023 at 13:20

Raymond Lin said:
Oh nice, I've just set it on the watch too, saves me getting the phone out of my pocket.

Yep best way, not sure if you have more than 1 card tied to Apple pay but make sure you swipe the same card in and out otherwise it'll charge the cap on both cards as China Man has said above

Raymond Lin · 15 Sep 2023 at 13:44

Maundie said:
Yep best way, not sure if you have more than 1 card tied to Apple pay but make sure you swipe the same card in and out otherwise it'll charge the cap on both cards as China Man has said above

I think you can elect 1 card only, but you can elect different card on difference devices. It let me put Amex on one and Barclays on the other, I just need to stick to using the watch and it'll be fine. Or just put the same card on both.

jeffk · 15 Sep 2023 at 22:32

The only time that an Oyster card is cheaper is if you’ve got a rail card (young person’s, annual gold card, etc.) and you’re travelling off peak. You can load the rail card onto an Oyster card, which is something you can’t do with contactless.

dlockers · 15 Sep 2023 at 22:38

I haven't seen an Oyster card for about 5 years. Contactless++ unless you are a student.

Raymond Lin · 15 Sep 2023 at 22:58

dlockers said:
I haven't seen an Oyster card for about 5 years. Contactless++ unless you are a student.

Do you need the TFL Oyster app and link it to the card in order to get all the same features as normal Oyster card?

dlockers · 15 Sep 2023 at 23:04

Raymond Lin said:
Do you need the TFL Oyster app and link it to the card in order to get all the same features as normal Oyster card?

Nope, just regular contactless is totally fine. They hold any "payment" until EoD and then calculate the charge.

Oyster is dead unless you are a student (as its the only way to apply your student card discount).

Loading your card to Oyster app is useful if you want to track your spend, but if you use any contactless digital card (Android/Apply Pay) it doesn't work anyway because your device has a different card number.

Raymond Lin · 15 Sep 2023 at 23:09

dlockers said:
Nope, just regular contactless is totally fine. They hold any "payment" until EoD and then calculate the charge.

Oyster is dead unless you are a student (as its the only way to apply your student card discount).

Loading your card to Oyster app is useful if you want to track your spend, but if you use any contactless digital card (Android/Apply Pay) it doesn't work anyway because your device has a different card number.

I followed all that right up until the last sentence.

So contactless for Apple Pay doesn’t work? Huh? Why is it a different number? Different number between which 2 objects? I’m so confused now.

Loading any card? I plan to use just apply pay…

dlockers · 15 Sep 2023 at 23:13

Raymond Lin said:
I followed all that right up until the last sentence.

You can "add" your debit/credit card to Oyster website and it'll give you a trip by trip breakdown. This was a great perk but as soon as Android Pay/Apple Pay/Samsung Wallet came in, it didn't "work" as they don't have typical card numbers that the service can work with.

Just checked my Oyster account, the last time I tapped a debit/credit card versus a phone:

Edit: one perk is Oyster used to let you go in debt. I actually still owe them cash:

Raymond Lin · 15 Sep 2023 at 23:21

dlockers said:
You can "add" your debit/credit card to Oyster website and it'll give you a trip by trip breakdown. This was a great perk but as soon as Android Pay/Apple Pay/Samsung Wallet came in, it didn't "work" as they don't have typical card numbers that the service can work with.

Just checked my Oyster account, the last time I tapped a debit/credit card versus a phone:

Edit: one perk is Oyster used to let you go in debt. I actually still owe them cash:

I was referring more to the app.

dlockers · 15 Sep 2023 at 23:26

Raymond Lin said:
I was referring more to the app.

Ah interesting - maybe this is the solution I wasn't looking for! Never seen it before.

Raymond Lin · 15 Sep 2023 at 23:30

dlockers said:
Ah interesting - maybe this is the solution I wasn't looking for! Never seen it before.

Yeah, it tells you your past trips it seems.

jaybee · 16 Sep 2023 at 00:23

In London you either use contactless or buy a travel card. Contactless is pay as you go tapping in and out at the barriers and after an amount of journeys the daily cap comes into play, where you won't pay anymore than a set price. This tends to work out cheaper than an equivalent day travel card bought outright. However, sometimes travel card prices are cheap when bundled with a return train overground ticket, especially off peak and/or with a Railcard. Travel cards are paper tickets and get fed in and out of train barriers.

Raymond Lin · 18 Sep 2023 at 14:28

Okay, successful trip using the Apple Watch to pay, thanks all.

dlockers · 18 Sep 2023 at 15:26

Raymond Lin said:
Okay, successful trip using the Apple Watch to pay, thanks all.

That's great - learnt something.

Scam · 18 Sep 2023 at 16:41

Raymond Lin said:
Oh nice, I've just set it on the watch too, saves me getting the phone out of my pocket.

I was using my Apple Watch for a while but since I wear it on my left wrist found it a pain to have to do some sort of swivel dance to tap at the barriers. Using my phone means you can reach out ahead of you and keep your stride whilst it registers and breeze straight through. It's those milliseconds that count

China Man said:
just make sure you use the same card on all your trips, there is a cap on spend after a number of trips and of course if you mistakenly use another card you will be charged on each card until each card hit the cap.....don't ask how I know that

And especially if you're using a phone or smart watch, bear in mind these create proxy card numbers so as far as TFL are concerned they are actually different cards.

For example I have the same Mastercard registered for Apple Pay on my phone and Apple Pay on my watch. If I go onto the TFL website under my account they show as three different cards. So you shouldn't mix and match in a day.